New and improved?

Just when you thought that God couldn’t possibly care about what kind of a car you drove, the Vatican has come out with a new and improved list of deadly sins. Sins, that is, in addition to the traditional PEWSLAG:

The new deadly sins that may lead to eternal damnation are polluting, genetic engineering, being obscenely rich, drug dealing, abortion, pedophilia and causing social injustice, The Times newspaper has reported. Quoting from Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano, The Times reported that certain actions were so unholy that they needed to be deemed as “mortal sins” – not the less serious “venial sins”.

Any of these new sins can be mapped on to one of the old standbys, but it’s ever so much fun to play the blame game along with the rest of the well-off liberals in the West. The new list raises some questions about definitions. Also, about motives and that good old sin of hypocrisy.

For example, what constitutes “polluting?” Driving a diesel truck? You bet, if you’ve ever been stuck behind one. How about an SUV? Is there a Roman Catholic certified and approved miles-per-gallon that is holy?

Am I, as an American of above-average means, guilty of being “obscenely rich?” To a dalit in India living on less than $1 per day, likely. How much is too much, and who, exactly, gets to make that determination?

I’d be a lot more respectful of what the Catholic Church tells us about “obscenely rich” if their top dogs did not live in such opulence, surrounded by billions of dollars in furnishings and art. Perhaps the pope should arrange to sell it all off, and give the proceeds to the poor, before he starts advising the rest of the world what is sinful.